NLR, PLR, LMR and MWR as diagnostic and prognostic markers for laryngeal carcinoma

Objective: To evaluate whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) and monocyte-to-white blood cell ratio (MWR) can be used as diagnostic and prognostic markers for laryngeal carcinoma (LC). Methods: In this retrospective study, 50 patients with LC treated in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of Beijing Tongren Hospital from August 2014 to August 2015 were enrolled in research group. In addition, 40 healthy volunteers from the same period were selected as control group. The counts of white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and platelets in the peripheral blood of participants were measured with a blood counting instrument (Sysmex XE-2100, Sysmex Corporation, Japan), and the NLR, PLR, LMR and MWR were calculated. After that, the survival rate of patients was observed through a 5-year follow-up. The prognostic value of the above four indexes and their combination was discussed in patients with different clinical characteristics. Results: Compared with the control group, the NLR, PLR and MWR were higher and the LMR was lower in the research group. In terms of survival, patients with higher NLR, PLR and MWR and lower LMR showed a higher 5-year mortality than those with lower NLR, PLR and MWR and higher LMR, indicating that NLR, PLR and MWR were higher and LMR was lower in the survival group than in the death group. Subsequent analysis identified that NLR, PLR, LMR and MWR were closely correlated with age, alcohol drinking, smoking, clinical staging and T-staging. Clinical staging, T-staging, NLR, PLR, LMR, and MWR were confirmed as influencing factors for LC. Conclusions: NLR, PLR, LMR, and MWR can be used as diagnostic and prognostic markers for LC and their combination has a superior diagnostic performance.